Device for automatically presenting documents on a reading table

ABSTRACT

A device for automatically presenting documents on a reading table, said device comprising support means for the documents each of which is suspended by its upper edge which is integral with a rigid rod, said rigid rods being disposed in adjoining relation on said support means, guide means in a plane located above the plane of the support means, two endless bands which are driven in synchronism, each of which bands is disposed above the support means, the lower reach of each of said bands being substantially in the plane of said guide means, each of the bands comprising on its outer face a transverse recess arranged to be capable of receiving the end portion of a rod, and only one rod, said recesses being in alignment, and means for raising a rod, and only one rod, above the plane of the support means and bringing it above the plane of said guide means.

United States Patent 1191 Derre et al.

[ DEVICE FOR AUTOMATICALLY PRESENTING DOCUMENTS ON A READING TABLE [75] Inventors: Andre Derre; Pierre Robert, both of Valence; Claude Vuillemin, Etolle-sur-Rhone, all of France [73] Assignee: Crouzet, Paris, France [22] Filed: Feb. 5, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 329,344

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 4, 1972 France 72.04047 [52] US. Cl. 209/73, 209/74 R, 209/90 [51] Int. Cl B07c [58] Field of Search 209/73, 74, 1115-1 1 1.8,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,355,132 10/1920 Duveck 40/28 A 3,273,567 9/1966 Smitzer 209/80.5

. 11] 3,780,858 [451 Dec.25, 1973 3,626,094 12/1971 Widdekind ..40/78.09

Primary Examiner-Allen N. Knowles Att0rney.lohn C. Holman et al.

[ ABSTRACT A device for automatically presenting documents on a reading table, said device comprising support means for the documents each of which is suspended by its upper edge which is integral with a rigid rod, said rigid rods being disposed in adjoining relation on said support means, guide means in a plane located above the plane of the support means, two endless bands which are driven in synchronism, each of which bands is disposed above the support means, the lower reach of each of said bands being substantially in the plane of said guide means, each of the bands comprising on its outer face a transverse recess arranged to be capable of receiving the end portion of a rod, and only one rod, said recesses being in alignment, and means for raising a rod, and only one rod, above the plane of the support means and bringing it above the plane of said guide means.

9 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PAIENTEUUECZS ms SHEET10F4 FIG 4 'PATENTED UEC25 I975 SHEET 3 UF 4 DEVICE FOR AUTOMATICALLY PRESENTING DOCUMENTS ON A READING TABLE The present invention relates to a device for automatically presenting on a reading table documents such as separate portions of geographical maps contained in any order in a file.

More particularly, the device is adapted to present automatically in a perfectly precise and located position geographical maps on a reading table which is part of an automatic navigation apparatus of the type indicating the position or marking the course of an aircraft. In this type of apparatus, if both high reading precision and small overall size are the requirements, a plurality of elements of a large-scale map must be used in succession in the course of a trip.

One object of the invention is to render the changing of the map elements automatic.

Similar devices are known in which the various map elements are assembled in a continuous strip which is mounted on a supply spool and unwound from the supply spool onto a receiving spool. This method is employed in the navigation apparatus described in French Patent No. 1,31 1,917 in which the map is put in the form of a band by successive photographs on a continuous film which is thereafter projected, view by view, onto a screen. However, this prior art has several drawbacks namely If the band is arranged to cover any itinerary in a vast zone, it is excessively long and in order to change the maps required for a particular itinerary a quantity of views which do not concern the itinerary must be passed through. This takes a lot of time.

If the band is arranged to cover solely one itinerary, it must be made with precision by the user and cannot be used for another itinerary. The apparatus would become useless if the navigator is obliged to change the course of the aircraft for some reason.

French Patent No. 1,437,509 describes an apparatus which avoids these drawbacks to a certain extent. Each m'ap element is photographed separately on a rigid diapositive plate supported by an individual frame carrying a coded reference which may be read automatically. The different views are placed in any order in a magazine in the form of a rotary drum, the automatic selection of new view being very rapid and requiring only a single turn of thedrum, one view being replaced by another within about one second.

Both these prior arrangements still have a common drawback residing in the fact that, as the map is projected by transparency onto a screen, they can only be used in dimly-lit surroundings. Now, the cockpit of aircraft, and above all helicoptere, is usually flooded with light, which renders the reading of a map projected onto a screen impossible.

Another drawback of the prior apparatuses in which the image is projected onto a screen is that it is impossible to write information on the map.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the known apparatuses.

The invention provides a device comprising support means for documents each of which is suspended by its upper edge which is integral with a rigid rod, said rods being disposed in adjoining relation on said support means, guide means in a plane located above the plane of the support means, two endless bands which are driven in synchronism each of which bands is disposed above the support means, the lower reach of each of said bands being substantially in the plane of said guide means, each of the bands comprising on its outer surface a transverse recess arranged to be capable of receiving the end portion of a rod, and only one rod, said recesses being in alignment, and means for raising a rod, and only one rod, above the plane of the support means and bringing it above the plane of said guide means.

The thus raised rod is engaged by its end portions in the respective recesses of the bands and the synchronous rotation of the bands drives the raised rod, and therefore the document integral therewith, and extracts the selected document, the end portions of the extracted rod sliding first on the other rods remaining in the support means, then on the upper edge of the casing after having passed beyond the end of the support means. Guide means are provided for preventing the selected rod from leaving the support means outside the region in which the endless bands are adjacent the upper edge of the casing. The rod is thus maintained in the transverse recesses and, when it reaches the end of the upper path of the endless bands, the document'car ried thereby is laid out on the upper reaches of the bands in the position of use. The bands are then stopped. I

The device according to the invention further comprises means for selecting a predetermined rod.

The invention will be better understood from the ensuing detailed description of one embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of the device.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line II-II of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line III-III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a part of the device shown in FIG. 2 to a very enlarged scale, and

FIGS. 5-11 are sectional views, more diagrammatic than FIG. 4, illustrating the successive stages of operation of the device.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show in plan and in elevational very diagrammatically the assembly of the device which comprises a rectangular-sided casing 1 whose upper face serves as a reading table 3 for maps 2 which are automatically brought in position.

A portion of a rule R capable of moving parallel to itself in a downward direction and a slider C moving from left to right on said rule so as to define the position P of an aircraft are not part of the present invention but have been shown in order to illustrate the object of the invention which is to place automatically a map element 2 on the reading table 3 in a precise and located position so that the position P of an aircraft, defined by a navigation apparatus, shows the actual position on this map. v

FIG. 2, a sectional view on line II-II of FIG. 1, shows very diagrammatically the general arrangement of the device. The casing 1 comprises an upper portion la in which the reading table 3 is mounted, the upper surface of the table being in a plane tangent to a first roller 4 and to a second roller 5. The table carries a few teeth 3a which are engaged in grooves 44, 5a of the rollers 4 and 5 so that a flexible object, such as a paper map 2, can without drooping and smoothly leave the roller 4, slide on the table 3 and then leave the table 3 and roll onto the roller 5. Two endless belts 6 and 7, symmetrically arranged, are mounted on the ends of the rollers 4 and 5 and pass over the table 3.

The belts 6 and 7 carry orifices 6a, 7a, which cooperate with pointed teeth 4b, 5b on the rollers so that no offset due to slip can occur between the belts which always move in phase.

In the lower part or portion lb of the casing there is placed a drawer 8 similar to a drawer of a document file. The maps 2 are placed in this drawer and suspended by their edge portions from rigid rods 9. The end portions of the latter bear in a longitudinal aperture or recess 8a in the upper edge of the vertical walls of the drawer 8. This drawer may be pulled out in the same way as a drawer of a piece of furniture for placing the maps in position.

The length of the aperture or recess 8a defines the number of maps to be arranged in this device. The rods 9, placed in side-by-side relation, must completely fill the aperture 8a and form by their juxtaposition a horizontal plane which extends on each side beyond the vertical walls of the drawer and is located under the endless belts 6 and 7.

The two endless belts 6 and 7 include two slots or recesses 6b, 7b in which end portions of a bar 9 corresponding to the selected map are engageable by a slight raising movement so as to drive, with the belts 6 and 7, the map 2 and extract it from the drawer 8 and bring it in passing round the first roller 4 onto the reading table 3 where it is held stationary by stopping the endless belts 6, 7. After the map exposed on the table 3 has been used, the map is returned to the drawer 8 by passing it round the second roller 5 by putting the endless belts 6 and 7 in motion.

The FIGS. 4-11 will explain the means for selecting, extracting and returning the maps 2.

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view from the left side of F IG. 1 of the selecting means located on the left side, identical means symmetrically arranged on the right side having been omitted as no description thereof need be given.

The bars 9 from which the maps are suspended bear by their end portions on the vertical walls of the drawer 8 in an aperture 8a.

A bar 9 is in the recess 6b of the belt 6 and will arrive at the end edge of the aperture 8a where it will drop and depress the nose portion 10a of a pawl 10 which retains the whole of the bars 9 so as to maintain the first portion of the aperture 8a free (in FIG. 4, for reasons of clarity, a few bars 9 have been omitted).

At the instant when the returning bar 9 is in vertical alignment with the first portion of the aperture 8a, a notch 60 of the belt 6 is in front of the nose portion 11a of a coupling pawl 11 which is pivotable on a pin 12.

A series of reading or reproducing heads 13 carried in alignment by a bar 14 integral with and parallel to the pin 12 and having one end bearing on the back of the pawl 1 1 are then in the vertical plane containing the returning bar so that at the same time as the bar 9 leaving the recess 6b drops into the empty space of the aperture 8a, the nose portion 11a drops into the notch 6c, the bar 14 is lowered and the heads 13 are all very near to the surface of the plane defined by the assembly of the bars 9. At the same time, the assembly 11, 12, 13, 14 is connected to the endless belt 6 (and 7).

The pin 12 is supported by a slide 15 which is freely slidable on a rod 16 in a direction parallel to the movement of the belt 6. The assembly 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 follows thus the movement of the belt 6 and the heads 13 sweep across each of the bars 9 in succession.

The slide 15 is arranged to maintain elastically a lever 17 which is pivotable and slidable on the rod 16, at such a distance from the pin 12 that an arm 17a is in the vertical plane of the heads 13 and passes under the end portion of the bars 9. A spring 18 serves both to maintain elastically the lever 17 against the bearing 15a of the slide 15 and to maintain elastically the other arm 17b against a longitudinal control strip 19 which may be rotated by means of its spindle 20.

When the heads 13 identify the bar 9 whose code corresponds to that which has been chosen (manually or by an automatic apparatus), a signal causes stoppage of the belts 6 and 7, actuation of the strip 19 actuating in turn the arm 17b of the lever 17 whose arm 17a raises the end portion of the bar 9 into the recess 6b of the belt 6, resumption of the movement of the belt 6 (and 7) which drives the new selected bar 9 and extracts the corresponding map 2. The belt 6 at the same time drives the whole of the assembly l1, 12, 13, 14, 15 but the bar 17a has remained stationary disposed between the two bars 9 adjacent the selected bar 9, which is made possible by the compression of the spring 18. After a short travel of the assembly 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, the action of the strip 19 ceases, the arm 17a, under the action of the spring 18, turns downwardly slightly so as to disengage from the space between the two adjacent bars 9 and, under the action of the same spring 18, the lever 17 returns into abutting relation to the bearing 15a and the assembly 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18 continues to progress (toward the right as viewed in FIG. 4).

When the reading heads 13 have passed beyond the last bar 9 a fixed abutment 21 (FIG. 8) co-operates with the inclined plane 11b so as to raise together the pawl 11 and the bar 14, the nose portion 11a escapes from the notch 6c and the whole of the assembly 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, l7, 18 returns toward the left to its point of departure under the pulling action of the band 22 which winds round a drum 23 controlled by a return spring (not shown).

Advantageously, the band 22 is a flexible plastic band comprising in the known manner tracks of printed circuits (not shown) for ensuring the electrical connection of the reproducing heads 13.

The different stages just described are illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

As can be seen in FIG. 7, the map 2 whose bar 9 has just been left by the belts 6 and 7 and is no longer driven, has a part still on the roller 5 and the map continues to re-enter the drawer 8 owing to the action of a counter-roller 24 which elastically urges the map against the roller 5.

FIG. 10 shows the map 2 which has arrived in position on the table 3, its bar 9 bearing against abutments 25. Further, pushrods 26 (one on each side of the drawer 8) have been urged toward the right by some means (for example electromagnetic means) so as to urge the bars 9 to close up toward the right and fill the empty space left by the bar which is at present bearing against the abutments 25 and form an empty space at the beginning of the apertures 8a, the closely assembled bars are maintained in position by the nose portions 10a of the pawls 10.

In FIG. 11, the abutments 25 have been withdrawn, the pushrods 26 have returned to their position of rest and the cycle is ready to recommence.

What we claim is l. A device for automatically presenting documents on a reading table, said device comprising support means for the documents each of which is suspended by its upper edge which is integral with a rigid rod, said rigid rods being disposed in adjoining relation on said support means, guide means in a plane located above the plane of the support means, two endless bands which are driven in synchronism, each of which bands is disposed above the support means, the lower reach of each of said bands being substantially in the plane of said guide means, each of the bands comprising on its outer face a transverse recess arranged to be capable of receiving the end portion of a rod, and only one rod, said recesses being in alignment, and means for raising a rod, and only one rod, above the plane of the support means and bringing it above the plane of said guide means.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, comprising means for selecting a predetermined rod.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the rods carry a reference marked in code and the device comprises reproducing heads arranged to move above the coding region of the rods.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the reproducing heads are carried by a carriage arranged to be capable of being rendered temporarily integral with the endless bands and biased by elastic return means for returning it to the departure position as soon as it is no longer integral with said bands.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the means for raising a rod comprise levers which are elastically biased and controlled by the reproducing heads.

6. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein withdrawable abutments for the selected rod are provided for affording a precise positioning of the document in the reading position.

7. A device as claimed in claim 1, comprising means for taking the place of the extracted rod in said apertures.

8. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein an auxiliary roller co-operates with the second drive roller for the endless bands so as to cause the part of the document still on the drive roller to enter the case when the rod is no longer driven by the endless bands.

9. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the documents are geographical maps. 

1. A device for automatically presenting documents on a reading table, said device comprising support means for the documents each of which is suspended by its upper edge which is integral with a rigid rod, said rigid rods being disposed in adjoining relation on said support means, guide means in a plane located above the plane of the support means, two endless bands which are driven in synchronism, each of which bands is disposed above the support means, the lower reach of each of said bands being substantially in the plane of said guide means, each of the bands comprising on its outer face a transverse recess arranged to be capable of receiving the end portion of a rod, and only one rod, said rEcesses being in alignment, and means for raising a rod, and only one rod, above the plane of the support means and bringing it above the plane of said guide means.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, comprising means for selecting a predetermined rod.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the rods carry a reference marked in code and the device comprises reproducing heads arranged to move above the coding region of the rods.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the reproducing heads are carried by a carriage arranged to be capable of being rendered temporarily integral with the endless bands and biased by elastic return means for returning it to the departure position as soon as it is no longer integral with said bands.
 5. A device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the means for raising a rod comprise levers which are elastically biased and controlled by the reproducing heads.
 6. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein withdrawable abutments for the selected rod are provided for affording a precise positioning of the document in the reading position.
 7. A device as claimed in claim 1, comprising means for taking the place of the extracted rod in said apertures.
 8. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein an auxiliary roller co-operates with the second drive roller for the endless bands so as to cause the part of the document still on the drive roller to enter the case when the rod is no longer driven by the endless bands.
 9. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the documents are geographical maps. 